"We are challenging all aspects of the election, not only the actual vote but events leading up to the election as well," said Gerardo Fernandez, who is representing Capriles and the country's opposition coalition.

Capriles' court challenge comes amid a wave of post-election violence here. On Tuesday, several opposition legislators were injured in a brawl in the country's National Assembly.

Members of the opposition, including Lara State Gov. Henri Falcon, have warned that mounting violence could plunge the country into civil war. At least nine people have lost their lives in post-election violence so far with both sides blaming each other for the deaths.

Capriles lost the April 14 vote to President Nicolas Maduro, who was the choice of the government and who has vowed to follow in the revolutionary anti-American mold of Chávez, who died of cancer March 5.

Maduro, 50, a former bus driver, won by by fewer than 225,000 votes out of more than nearly 15 million cast. Capriles, 40, the governor of Miranda state, has said the election was full of irregularities and fraud, including a denial of equal time on Venezuela media.

"This will be a long process, one that will take time,'' Fernandez said.

As part of the 80-plus-page suit, the opposition is also asking that the president and vice president of the court's electoral chamber recuse themselves from the deliberations. The court is viewed by most analysts as being controlled by supporters of the government.

The recount threatens to plunge Venezuela into its worst political crisis since 2004 when the country's opposition tried to recall Chávez. That effort proved unsuccessful, and followed an abortive coup d'etat and national strike against Chávez.

Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the West and has the world's largest oil reserves. But its economy is in shambles due in part to Chávez's seizure of private businesses and his replacing of administrators of the state-run oil industry with political supporters.

Oil production has fallen as has food production, raising prices for basic goods.